Banshee? No, an ogre!

Chapter 16: Exploit a loophole

So you went to all this trouble just for an apprenticeship exam?

Og could only feel that the gulf between people was truly extraordinary.

He had been busy with work, fighting or training every day just to become a professional. But this young master from the outer city was suppressing his own power, deliberately not condensing his magical core in pursuit of so-called perfection.

That's just one of the reasons. I don't want to just randomly burn some low-level magic into my head,' Fuke explained.

The mark of promotion to professional magician is the same for both energy shaping and manipulation apprentices - the compression of magical energy to form a magical core.

During the process of forming the magical core, the mage can engrave a highly skilled spell in the form of magical runes into the magical core to gain greater power.

This stage also marks the beginning of the complete separation of the Manipulation and Energy Shaping systems. Manipulation mages will mix their own soul and a large amount of mental willpower into the process of forming the magical core.

The energy shaping division will abandon the engraved spells, reduce the amount of spiritual power mixed in, and choose to condense with the power of the more powerful elements.

This portion of elemental power will permanently change the nature of the magical core, but at the same time, the energy-forming magician will gain more powerful magic.

Those who are more sensitive to elemental perception and have better mental aptitude will become manipulation mages, while apprentice mages with a stronger talent for magical power reserves and poor elemental perception will choose the energy-forming path.

There is nothing wrong with striving for strength and perfection. Oug took a sip from his wooden wine glass before asking his own question: "But I'm curious. With a family like yours, it shouldn't be hard to find some talented apprentices.

The ale in this tavern is very low in alcohol, and it's more of a drink than alcohol. Fortunately, it tastes good.

Ouge likes this slightly bitter drink - the bitterness can keep him more alert.

However, the knight's companion, Lange, doesn't seem to like the drink so much; Ouge sees that the knight's companion has just taken a sip and is now sticking out his tongue.

Vuko seems to have thought of something, and pauses here.

He seemed to ponder for a few seconds before continuing to explain to Oug: 'What I want to achieve is a high-star rating in the Apprentice Adventure Group, which will be of great help to me in the future; so I need a real strong person of Apprentice level, which is the real reason why I came to the Border City with my uncle.

Not because the family's special recruitment quota hasn't come to you yet...' Oug said what Fuke really wanted.

During his studies, he also learned about the so-called holy land of mages, the Serris Mage Academy.

The Seris Mage Academy only recruits apprentice mages. In the words of their headmaster, they are only responsible for training potential blank slates.

Professional mages are often unable to become students at the Serris Academy.

It is quite difficult to get into the Serris Mage Academy; either you have to be recommended by a major power, or you have to be judged to have outstanding magical talent.

Although Fuke is already very good as an apprentice mage, it seems that he is still lacking in order to enter the Serris Academy.

Speaking of which, the information merchant says that the witches' organisation is also there. Could it be that these witches are some of the mages of this academy? This is not surprising, as Ouge was unable to guess the location of the witches' organisation before.

It is really rare for anyone to think that the profession of a witch, which is like that of a street rat, would lead directly to the largest place where mages live.

If there is no connection between the two, Ouge does not believe it.

He thinks that this academy has been infiltrated 8 or 9 times out of 10.

I didn't know you knew something like that. Yes, I want to enter the Seris Academy by passing the apprentice evaluation of the High Star Professional Association. Fuke wasn't hiding anything.

His uncle had told him about this path, and he was very unlucky - in Fuke's generation, there were only three extremely talented apprentice mages in the family.

As a result, Vuko hadn't been able to get a recommendation for two years in a row, and he couldn't wait any longer; the only 'shortcut' that could mobilise resources was the six-star apprentice-level professional evaluation challenge!

Of course, as long as he met the standards, the Professional Association would vouch for him.

I don't want to wait until the end of next year; I don't want to compromise my path as a mage; I also want to get more on my own, so I came here,' Vuko said bluntly.

It wasn't that he didn't have other mage academies to choose from.

But he wanted the best!

People who are not greedy for small gains are often because they want something bigger.

Just say yes or no. My young master likes you...' Looking at the somewhat hesitant Oug, Lange couldn't help but burst out first.

'Lange, be quiet. Next time, don't interrupt!' Fuke warned, clenching his fists and pounding on the wooden table.

He knew that this was a grudge that Lange held over the previous incident.

Looking at the two men in front of him, who looked like the white-faced villain and the red-faced villain, Ooge shrugged: 'I have no other requests, I'm still very pragmatic - just pay the money.

Ooge didn't even know if he had enough money to pre-order the f*******n potion.

Most of the apprentices I know are not good at fighting," Vuko told Ooge, explaining his real reason for approaching Ooge.

It is a classic stereotype that people in border areas are good at fighting, but since stereotypes can be formed, it shows the difference between folkways - apprentices who are not in border towns are usually not good at fighting.

Apprentices who don't live in border towns usually don't have many opportunities to actually fight, because they have better conditions and can do important things.

Those with good talent usually don't waste their time training for promotion and honing their fighting skills.

In this case, what Volker said was indeed true, which also explains why he demanded to challenge the strongest apprentice in the gladiatorial arena as soon as he arrived.

The strongest Apprentice in the Apprentice Gladiator Arena is not necessarily the strongest Apprentice in the area.

But it is definitely the most reliable Apprentice teammate you can find.

This method of selection must have been taught by Volker's uncle.

Are there any other teammates? Oug's words had a double meaning.

One was to ask about his teammates, the other was to test how much Vuko would pay for his services.

None so far. I've been through a few towns, but I haven't found any apprentices who are stronger than you. Vuko had not met any apprentices who were stronger than him.

But these apprentices were not like the boys in the gladiatorial arena, who would fight for anyone.

If for no other reason, such people were often too arrogant - everyone was proud of being the best.

In a high-star quest group, only one guarantor can be requested.

Of course, Vuko eliminated the apprentice wizard early on, because he was not very strong in combat during his apprenticeship.

In his opinion, Oug, who was used to living near the monster forest, would be much more useful than those who were stronger.

Do you have any experience in fighting monsters? Oug asked again.

Vuko and Lange looked at each other and shook their heads.

Of course, this was what Oug had expected.

This is bad news, but it's also good news.

The bad news is that this might not be so easy to fix.

The good news is that your bargaining chips have increased in a roundabout way.

How many people can join the team at most? Oug put the mug down and asked the next question.

Oug only knows that the smaller the number of people in a professional adventuring team, the better the work will be done and the easier it will be to get a high rating.

The first few stars are easy to get, but from the fifth or sixth it gets harder - the more slackers there are, the harder it is to manage.

Generally speaking, there is no such thing as winning by leading - because it makes almost no sense.

As time goes on, the reputation of the party will decrease.

Even if you hire someone to help you improve your party, once the big spender has left and the quest has failed a few times, your party's rating will drop.

The adventurer leading the group may also see his or her star rating drop.

The party's rating is a combination of the overall ratings of the professionals in the party.

Each mission will assign an individual rating based on contributions, especially when it comes to the star promotion rating, which is more of an observational test.

Professionals with strong individual skills and real talent will either form their own adventure groups or be recruited away by various forces.

Leading people and so on is basically meaningless. Except for acts like Focker's, which exploit loopholes, there is almost no benefit.

And Focker wants to rely on the guarantee of the Adventurers' Association. Either he starts his own group and works his way up, or he joins a high-scoring group and gets the only recommendation.

Both of these options are very difficult, and high-scoring quest groups will not let Focker join so casually - a large gap will lower the quest group's score.

If the score drops, it will be fatal to try to raise it again.

Even those quest groups that want to train new people will not assign new people directly to their own quest groups.

Have you thought about which quest to choose? Oug added.

He had tacitly agreed to let Falk become the group leader, even if it was only a temporary title.

The only way for Falk to exploit the loophole at the moment was to create his own group - unlike registering as a professional, registering a group required a substantial sum of money.

The advantage was that groups were more likely to be given work.

The Professional Association did not place any particular restrictions on professionals changing groups.

However, any change would be recorded in the personal profile.

Jumping from group to group too often would have consequences.

Of course, the Association of Professionals has also set up a sensible system for those who want to form a team of freelancers - the temporary guild.

The difference between a temporary guild and a formal guild is that a temporary guild's skill level is often reduced by one star, and the guild will also have a portion of its income deducted by the Association of Professionals.

I have a plan for the mission, but as for personnel, there are only three of us at the moment. I can only accept a maximum of two more people. Too many people will interfere with my plan, and I can't accept guys who are too weak, because it will affect efficiency.

Vuko is only doing this adventure group to try to get into the Seris Academy this year.

It doesn't matter to him whether or not the score is lowered afterwards.

This quest group only needs to exist for one year so that he can get into the Academy.

But this will also delay the acceptance of other professional apprentices, because during this time Vuko will have to make sure that no members leave, which will also lower their score.

So he wants to find professionals, but they can't be full-time professionals.

This requirement is quite strict.

It is also a restriction deliberately set by the Association of Professionals in order to recommend those who are truly competent.

Of course, if you really have the ability to take advantage of this rule with so many restrictions, the Association will accept it.

But generally those people have their own channels.

It's also good for your future career, isn't it?' Vuko said with a smile.

Of course, it's not as good as he says - if you really join, you won't be able to improve your rating or take on missions in the Association of Professionals for at least half a year.

For an apprentice, this restriction is neither light nor heavy - for people in the border town who depend on it for their livelihood, the impact is quite large, while for people who rely on the family system or who enter the Academy to study, it has almost no impact.

For the former, it is difficult to find willing people, and the latter's fighting ability is usually not strong at this stage.

There is nothing he can do about it. If Vuko wants to form his own adventure group and get this recommendation, he should find a professional who is also an apprentice.

The reason for this is that the Professional Association not only classifies Professionals according to their skill level, but also Adventure Groups (the star rating is not entirely linked to their skill level).

The level of adventure groups below silver will take the highest level of professionals.

In other words:

If your guild has a full-fledged professional, it will be classified as a Black Iron guild, and the difficulty of raising stars will not be a factor at all.

He is looking for loopholes, not pushing the boundaries.

I still prefer immediate benefits, but if you need a teammate, Master Fuke, I know someone. Oug didn't really care about the so-called future development.

He himself wouldn't be in this identity for long.

So he had a lot of confidence.

While talking, Oug took a knife and fork, cut off a piece of steak, put it in his mouth, chewed it, swallowed it, and his leisurely manner gave Fuke some confidence as well.

The teammate Fuke was looking for had very limited options.

At the same time, this also represented the importance of Oug, which is probably why Fuke was so polite to a guy from the gladiatorial arena.

Of course, it was also possible that his upbringing was indeed good.

There are experts too? Vuko's eyes widened slightly as he subconsciously asked, 'Who?

He had some expectations of the candidate Oug had mentioned.

He had been racking his brains for a while.

If this opportunity didn't work out, he would have to choose between inheriting the family position a year later or finding a less prestigious academy.

You could say that everything has its risks.

But the good thing is that the age of a mage is not as narrow as that of a martial artist, and the training of a mage after adulthood is very stable.

It is not useless to absorb mana at the apprentice level, and it can improve the quality, such as the formation of a magical core - it is just that the efficiency is not as high as that of a professional.

He's a knight, a paladin in training, and he shouldn't care about the restrictions of the Professional Association...'

Og finished eating the steak in the bowl, wiped his mouth and then said the man's name: 'His name is Serendic, a paladin in training from the Church of Dawn here. Well... strictly speaking, he should be considered my junior.

It must be said that the meat here tastes really good, and Oug ate much faster than usual.

This may have something to do with Oug's high sugar intake yesterday. When you get tired of eating sweets, you naturally become more interested in salty meat.

It's not that honey isn't delicious, it's just that you get tired of eating it in large quantities - unless it's addictive.

And long-term training with no visible feedback on improvement is actually the same.

You can even get someone from the Dawn Church! Yes, why didn't I think of that? Fuch's excitement caused him to slam his hand down on the table - he felt that this time, using a loophole, it might really work.

In terms of strength, I guarantee there won't be a problem, but it's a bit difficult to invite him out, and it might not work,' Oug dared not be too confident.

If it doesn't work, I'll just have to go to my uncle and recruit an archer...' Hearing Oug's words, Fuch's expression did not seem so excited.

'No, no, no, you might have misunderstood me.

'What do you mean?' Fuko asked a little surprised.

'What I mean is that as a rare paladin, it is difficult to recruit him at the risk of failure, but the success rate is still very high as long as you know his preferences. I happen to know that area very well.

What do you mean?

'You have to pay more.